Teacher Interview Preparation Guide

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Students look at their teachers as role models and person who can guide them better for a bright future. As a role model the teacher should infuse positive attitudes towards life and encourage them to be good citizens contributing to the nation and society.

Use of technology is inevitable both to gain hands on knowledge using internet and using PPT’s and video clippings for delivering the class room sessions.

Teacher interview questions and answers about establishing rapport should include an understanding of the role of rapport in contributing to effective teaching.

Demonstrate what behaviors you use to develop rapport such as sense of humor, showing interest in the students, availability, encouragement and relating lessons in everyday terms and examples that are relevant to the students.

Give examples of how you have demonstrated these behaviors in the classroom such as finding out something about your students' interests, hobbies, and aspirations.

Interview answers should demonstrate your ability to work together with parents to help and assist students, to encourage parents to provide the right support and environment for optimal learning and your ability to remain non-defensive and positive. Again support your answer with examples.

This is likely to entail some follow up questions:

☛ What did you do?
☛ What effect did your actions have on the situation?
☛ What would you differently next time?

Your interviewers want to get a sense of you as a teaching professional. This could be where you mention good working relationships with parents and carers, school policies, working together as a staff team or your behaviour management strategies. Be prepared with a good example of where you have made a difference and any successful results.

This is a kind of trap where the interviewers try to assess your over-confidence. One thing that has to be understood is that any development initiatives can be suggested only after understanding the systems better. As an outsider you do not know what the existing practices are. Hence your answer should impress them that you would like to get into the system and then accordingly contribute for the betterment of the institution.

Be ready with a few specific examples of topics you have heard about recently. Consider how they impact teaching and learning, always using examples from your experience where you can. You could refer to a discussion in the staff room, or a news report, or something you have heard about in your training. Often this may be something which is putting pressure on teachers at the moment. Keep up to date with at least one issue which relates to your subject or age group.

You may then be asked a follow up question around your opinion on this topic. Discuss how this would impact teaching and learning and if at all possible illustrate your point with examples from your recent experience. This might lead to additional questions specific to your personal statement or application, designed to give selectors a sense of you as an individual. Your answers should be authentic and genuine - interviewers will be able to spot a textbook answer. Relax and be yourself.

Teachers should understand that the capabilities of students differ from one another. Giving opportunities to perform to only those students who are bright and enthusiastic is not the correct procedure. This would actually lower the confidence levels of more than 50% of the class who fear of failure and poor performance.

One can say that, in the current institute, we make sure that each and every student takes part in both classroom activities and extra-curricular activities. This actually helps the student overcome fear of not performing well over a period of time and start gaining confidence and build self esteem.

Your response could include something that may have been a challenge in the past, which you have taken steps to rectify. It is important to be truthful, they will be testing your honesty. In addition, they will be checking to see if you provide a weakness that is critical to success in the position. For example, the interview will likely end quickly if you answer you have a difficult time management the classroom. The key to answering the question is to turn a negative into a positive.

I don't suggest using that the traditional statement, "I'm a perfectionist", it is often overused, and will tend to sound phony. It is important you don't get defensive and try to justify why you are weak in a particular subject area, such as social studies. This would make a bad impression, because it may be relevant to the position that you are seeking. Whatever you decide to use, ensure it is not one of the key skills of the position you are seeking. In other words, don't pinpoint classroom discipline and/management or subject area if you are seeking a teaching position.

Look beforehand at the experience they are asking for and emphasise where you have it. Your interview is where you can give more evidence to support your CV and application. Use evidence from your teaching practice, work in school or observing in a school before your interview. Describe the school and reflect on your learning as well as what interested or surprised you. You can also talk about experience in other settings and with different age ranges than those you're applying to teach in such as nurseries, youth clubs or playschemes.

The enthusiasm that students show in the class and the kind of doubts that they ask are the driving forces for any teacher. Learning is a give and take process. Making the students understand complex concepts in a simple manner that they remember gives a lot of satisfaction for a teacher.

Recollect a situation where you were not in your usual mood in the class but how you were made to recoup to normal by your students.

Reflect on a teacher you liked at school, university, or have worked with in the classroom. Analyse what qualities made them successful - these might include:

☛ enthusiasm
☛ pace
☛ resilience
☛ subject knowledge
☛ a range of teaching methods
☛ an ability to hold the attention of the class
☛ empathy
☛ encouraging children to think rather than being told.

Tell your interviewers about the qualities you have which they are looking for - this is not a time to be modest. Talk positively about yourself, think carefully about the words you would use here, for example -assertive rather than bossy, or calm rather than laid back. Talk about what you would bring to their school.

With teacher interview questions and answers like this it is a good idea to have a well organized statement about your approach to discipline.

Your interview answer will depend on your teaching style, the position (including age group) you are interviewing for and your past experience.

Do some research about this school or district's approach to discipline so that you are on the same page with your answer. Provide a clear and concise statement and back it up with examples.

"The purpose of discipline is to facilitate learning and foster better relationships and respect between the students. It is also intended to help students become more self-directed, self-disciplined and accountable for their behavior.

I have found that students respond poorly to forceful discipline but well to discipline that is helpful. My philosophy is to provide clear limits and rules that are communicated to the students so that they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The rules are discussed and agreed upon to encourage accountability from the students........."

For obvious reasons everyone will have a different answer; it will depend on your teaching style, grade interviewing for, and past experiences. The interviewer will be looking to see if you have a plan, you know how to implement it, and if you think that discipline is an important part of the position. What I have found from coaching clients is they fail to provide a clear action plan that can be backed up with examples. Also it is important to find out what is the philosophy of the school or district, this will give you some additional information. A few things to bring up when answering this question is the following:

It is important to develop ground rules the first week of class, this allows the students to understand what is and isn't acceptable behavior.

These rules are discussed and agreed upon with the students, this makes the students accountability and responsible. You may want to touch on your philosophy of classroom discipline. This of course would depend on your style; you will have to be honest with yourself. But you may believe that you reduce negative behavior by offering the students a intellectually stimulating, organized, and respectful environment.

Team work is very important whatever might be the profession we choose, as one single person cannot do everything by himself / herself. Contribution of work, providing support to each other and coordinating among the staff members is a must in any of the activities in the institution.

Share examples of when you organized events or functions in the institution by proper planning and execution while working as team.

You could talk about how you have successfully handled a disruptive pupil or student. Give an example of a situation where a strategy you used has been effective in the classroom. Think about the behaviour management strategies you have come across or heard about and talk about what you have seen to be effective.

Demonstrative style of teaching is what I follow where it involves lot of preparation for the class. Text books collate all the information and put it at one place for the students and hence the role of a teacher is to explain the concepts in a way that students understand and remember. Organising practical sessions and showing the videos pertaining to the subject helps students better.

The role of teachers is becoming very challenging these days. Especially with both parents working and the time they spend with the children for their studies is drastically coming down. Also the expectations of the parents on their children both in studies and extra-curricular activities are very high. All this becomes a great challenge for the teachers in giving individual attention to each child rather than just delivering the lesson.

Also the improving technology and communications are giving children a great exposure to the happening around the world and tinge of innocence is completely missing. Children are able to get any sort of information in a click of mouse on the internet. Hence the teachers are facing a great challenge in handling students in the current day. Teachers need to really pull up their socks and improve their knowledge and not just rely on the text books.

To answer this question, you can say something like - Yes, I contributed to many initiatives that helped in making our institution a renowned one in the primary school education in the town city.

Illustrate with how you have taken initiative and implemented with the concurrence of the Principal & colleagues. For e.g. ,

1. Introducing practical sessions for all the classes irrespective whether it is a School Board mandate or not. This was a welcomed by all the colleagues and principal as this would help the students in understanding the concepts better.

2. Conducting quarterly extra- curricular assessments of the students in the activities that they have opted during the start of the academic year. This has actually helped in making the students focus on extra- curricular activities and not just the subjects.

I have experienced that the fear of punishment is always a good tool to improve the performance of a student.

Punishment should not physically hurt the student as it would only deteriorate the student-teacher relationships.

The punishment should only motivate the student to put extra efforts to improve their knowledge on the subject and also secure good score in the examinations.

Often one of the first questions in most teaching interviews, preparation is vital to successfully answer this question. Think about why you would be a good fit to work or study in the school. Tell your interviewers why you're interested in their school, and what you know about their ethos, values, demographics, educational goals and objectives, initiatives, or extracurricular activities.

Focus on developing self-worth by providing honest and effective encouragement and valuation.

Include aspects such as acknowledging the student's efforts as well as accomplishments, the words and language you use, awareness of your body language and adapting the reinforcement to meet the particular needs of the student.

Provide specific examples to support your answer.

A good teacher must be a good communicator. Without good communication skills one cannot get the students attention however knowledgeable the person might be. Obviously what matters is the output or the delivery and no one would count on the time spent on preparation or the years of experience gained.

Yes, the fact that each child is blessed differently and a teacher is the best person to identify the hidden talents and encourage them to pursue those special skills. Different classroom activities like essay writing, elocution, painting and role plays help in identifying children with special talents in writing, oratory, acting and artistic skills . Also the sports and cultural events bring out their leadership & team working skills.

☛ 1. First, tell us a little bit about yourself. (Almost every teacher interview begins this way.)
☛ 2. Describe your college experiences.
☛ 3. Tell us about your experiences working with students at this age level.
☛ 4. Describe your philosophy of teaching?
☛ 5. Why do you want to become a teacher?
☛ 6. List three of your strengths your strengths and explain each one.
☛ 7. Describe three of your weaknesses as a teacher.
☛ 8. In what ways do you encourage creativity in your classroom?
☛ 9. Tell us about a lesson in which you've used differentiated instruction.
☛ 10. How do you teach kids to utilize higher-order thinking skills in your classroom?
☛ 11. What do you do to prepare your students for state or standardized tests?
☛ 12. Do you make learning fun for students? How?
☛ 13. If I walked into your classroom on a typical afternoon, what would I see going on?
☛ 14. How do you measure student performance in your classroom?
☛ 15. Describe a successful lesson. Tell why it was successful.
☛ 16. What would you do if a student wasn't handing her homework on a regular basis?
☛ 17. How much homework do you give?
☛ 18. Besides lecture, what methods of teaching do you use?
☛ 19. Tell us about your discipline philosophy.
☛ 20. What are your classroom rules? How do you make students familiar with the rules?
☛ 21. What daily or weekly routines would be incorporated in your teaching?
☛ 22. One student hits another student. What do you do?
☛ 23. A student throws a pencil across the room. What do you do?
☛ 24. Explain what you would do if a student was swearing in your class?
☛ 25. What would you do if a student was complaining about an assignment you've given?
☛ 26. What would you do if a parent complained about an assignment?
☛ 27. Describe some methods of "positive reinforcement" that you might use in your classroom.
☛ 28. Would you describe yourself as a "tough" teacher or an "understanding" teacher? Explain.
☛ 29. How would you create a behavior modification for a student with ongoing behavior problems?
☛ 30. What are some ways you can avoid behavior problems?
☛ 31. Without giving any names, describe the most challenging student you've ever taught.
☛ 32. What would you do to calm an angry parent?
☛ 33. Do you have an example of a parent newsletter that you can show us?
☛ 34. In what ways do you communicate with parents on a regular basis?
☛ 35. A parent calls you because they are worried about their child's low grades. What would you say to the parent?
☛ 36. A parent writes a note and tells you that their daughter could not complete their homework assignment because she had a dance recital the night before. What do you do?
☛ 37. How do you keep parents informed of their childs' progress?
☛ 38. How do you use technology to enrich your lessons?
☛ 39. How computer literate are you?
☛ 40. Do you think it is appropriate for children in school to be using the Internet?
☛ 41. Give an example of a time when you've worked on a team.
☛ 42. Describe one time when you've acted as a leader.
☛ 43. How do you feel about team-teaching?
☛ 44. What can you do for a student that is extremely gifted?
☛ 45. Describe a gifted student.
☛ 46. How would you recommend a child for special education services?
☛ 47. Most classes have students with a wide-range of reading abilities. What can you do to meet the needs of students with high reading abilities and low reading abilities at the same time?
☛ 48. Tell us a little about your student teaching experiences.
☛ 49. What is your least favorite age/grade/subject to teach? Explain.
☛ 50. What is your favorite age/grade/subject to teach? Explain.
☛ 51. What are some of the most important things you learned when student teaching?
☛ 52. What was the most satisfying moment throughout your student teaching?
☛ 53. What was the most frustrating thing about student teaching?
☛ 54. Describe one college course that taught you the most about being a good teacher.
☛ 55. Who influenced you to become a teacher?
☛ 56. Describe the biggest challenge you've ever had to face.
☛ 57. What books are you currently reading?
☛ 58. A student confides in you and tells you that his parent abuses him. He asks you not to tell anyone. What do you do?
☛ 59. What is your definition of a life-long learner? How can you promote life-long learning in your classroom?
☛ 60. Would you be willing to help out with extra-curricular activities? Which ones?
☛ 61. Have you ever been a substitute teacher in this school district?
☛ 62. What do you look for in a principal?
☛ 63. How do you communicate with administrators?
☛ 64. Would you like to be part of our new teacher mentor program?
☛ 65. What kinds of inservices would you be eager to attend?
☛ 66. List five adjectives that accurately describe yourself.
☛ 67. What professional teaching organizations do you belong to?
☛ 68. Have you ever received an award for anything in your lifetime? Describe.
☛ 69. Describe the differences between a good teacher and a great teacher?
☛ 70. What were you like as a student?
☛ 71. If you teach a lesson and your students don't seem to be "getting it," what do you do?
☛ 72. How do you provide support for students who are not performing as well as they should?
☛ 73. What can you do to meet the needs of students who do not speak English?
☛ 74. In what ways can you teach students to be accepting of one-another?
☛ 75. How would you teach conflict resolution to your students?